The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-04-15
DIR. TALMAGE HOME AGAIN
AFTER PREACHING AND LECTURlNG
IN FIFTEEN DIFFERENT CITIES.

Cordially Greeted by q Vast Congrcga
ton, tho Eminent Divine Delivers
Sermon from the Second Chapter q
Revelations: "A Live Church."
BROOKLYN, April 3.-The Rev. Il. Dewitt
Talmage, DID,, has returned from the west
after all absence of nearly three weeks, i
which hc preached and lectured in lftee
cities to immense thronGs. A vast congrega
was present at the Tabernacle this mornin;
and joined with fine effect in singing til
hymn which begins:
Jesus shall reign whcre'er tho sun
Does his successive journeys rum
DR.. Talmagos subject was "a Liv,
Church," and his text Revelations ii, 8, 0
"Unto the angel Of the church in Smyrna
write: These things saith the first and thu
last, which was dead and is alive. know
thy works, and circulation, and poverty, but
thou art rich"
Smyrna was u great city Of the ancients
bounded Oh three sides by mountains. 1t
was the central emporium of the Levantine
trade. In that prosperous and brilliant city
there was Christian church established.
After it had existed for willie it was
built. Then it was consumed by con1lag-
ration that swept over the entire city. That
church Went through fire, and trouble, and
disaster, but kept on to great spiritual pros
perity. The fact was that church had the
grace of God, an ever active principle. Had
it been otherwise, all the grandeur Of archi
lecture and all the pomp of surroundings
would only have been the ornament Of death
the garlands Of O coffin, the plunes of
hearse.
1t may be profitable to consider what are
the elements of live church
remark, in the first place, that one char,
acteristic Of such q church is punctuality in
meeting its engagements. All ecclesiastical
institutions have financial relations, and they
ought to meet their obligations just as GER
tainly as men meet their obligations at the
bank. When church of God is not as faith
full in it's promises as the Bank of England
it ceases to be church of God. 1t ought to
be understood that prayers cannot paint a
church, and prayers cannot pay the winters
coal bill, and prayers cannot meet the insur
ance, and that, while prayers can doa thou
sand things, there are thousand things that
prayers cannot do Prayer for any particu-
lar church will never reach heaven high I'M
less it goes down pocket deep. In my church |
at the west there was man of comfortable |
means, who used to pray for his pastor in
such elongated style that he became a
nuisance to the prayer meeting; asking God,
in prayer that was almost without ceasing,
that the pastor might be blessed in his basket
and in his store. while the fact was he never
paid anything. If we pray for the advance
ment Of the church and do not out Of our
means contribute to it's advancement, our
prayer is only mockery Let the church of
God then meet it's obligations on the outside,
and let the members Of the congregation
meet the obligations OH the inside, and the
church will be financially prosperous.
Let me say, also, that there must be pune
tuality in the attendance on the house of the
Lord. If the service begins at 1880 in the
morning, the regular congregation Of a live
church will not come at 10:45. II the service
is to begin at 1880 in the evening, the regular
congregation of live church will not come
at 7:45 In some churches I have noticed the
people are always tardy. There are some
people who are always late. They were born
too late, and the probability is they will die
too late The rustling of dresses up the aisle,
and the slamming of doors, and the treading
of heavy feet, is poor inspiration for minis
ter, 1t requires great abstraction III a
pastors mind to proceed with the prclinlin
arv exercises of the church when onchalf of
the audience seated are looking around to see
the other half como in Such difference of
attendance upon the house of God may be a
difference OF time pieces, but the 1.-Two church
of which am speaking ought to go by rail-
road time, and that is pretty well understood
in all our communities. There is one hymn
that ought to be sung in great many Chris
tian families on Sabbath morning: early,
my God, without delay, l haste to seek thy
place."
Another characteristic of live church is
the fact that all the people participate in the
exercises. A stranger can tell by the way the
first tune starts whether there is any life
there A church that does not sing is dead
church. 1t is awful to find cold drizzle of
music coming down from the organ loft
while all the people beneath sit in silence.
When a tune wanders around, lonely and I'M
befriended, and is finally lost amid the arches
because the people do not join in it, there is
not much melody made unto the Lord. In
heaven they all sing, though some there can
not sing half as well as Others The Metho-
list church has sung all around the world and
gone from conquest to conquest. among other
5hings because it is a singing church; and
any Christian church organization that with
3nunuSlaSlll peTIOrIIlS tulS l)tIG Vi us uuIy | ,
will go OH from triumph to triumph. A
church of God that can sing can do anything
that ought to be done. We go forth into this ,
1oly war with the Bible in one hand and
1ymn book in the other. Oh! We who used to ,
sing the praises of the Lord and have got out
If the habit, take your harps down from the
willows 1 am glad to know that, as ,
church, we are making advancement in this ,
aspect When came to be your pastor we 6
lad an excellent choir in the little chapel, and $
hey sang very sweetly to us Sabbath by
Sabbath; but ever and anon there was {
rouble, for you know that the chors in the c
United States are the Waterloos where the $
,reat battles go on. One Sunday they will T
ing like angels, and the next Sunday they I
will be mad and will not sing at all. We re- S
olved to settle all the difficulties and have {
me skillful man at the organ and one man to {
10 the work of a precentor; and now, from a
sabbath to Sabbath. the song comes up like r
he voice of mighty thunderings. {
Let those refuse to sing Il
Who never knew our God; S
But children Of the heavenly king a
Should cpealr their lows abroad